


I've Got You Under My Skin

by periwinklepromise



Series: WinterIron Week 2019 [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Lives, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Black Panther (2018), Prosthesis, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-22 20:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19993864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepromise/pseuds/periwinklepromise
Summary: Tony and Bucky were aligned. Facing each other, reflections of haunted cyborgs, both man and machine.





	I've Got You Under My Skin

**Author's Note:**

> I did it again. I saw "Prosthetic Arm _s_ " _plural_ , and went ... "Okay!"

Tony insisting he didn't need to go to medical wasn't actually anything new, and most of the time, the armor took most of the damage anyway. So he and Bucky had established a system. As long as Tony was capable of flying himself back, Bucky would eat something after a battle (to give his body the energy to get the gears going for its knock-off super-serum), and then meet his boyfriend downstairs to hassle him about any injuries.

So after an extra large supreme pizza and two bags of pre-prepped salad, he headed down to the workshop. 

… Which was on blackout.

“Jarvis?” he prodded hesitantly.

“Sir does not wish to be disturbed at this time.” 

“Override Epsilon, please, Jarvis.” 

Jarvis brought up the necessary keypad and Bucky gave the physical scans and verification codes before almost barreling down the door. “Tony, what's goin- good _god_ , man, what _happened_?”

“Um...” Tony looked down at his right hand, which had clearly been smashed to smithereens, somehow without becoming blood-ridden pulp, and looked back up at Bucky. “I tripped?”

“Yeah, sure, you tripped,” Bucky scoffed, stalking over to him and doing his best to appear angry at the lie instead of terrified by the truth. “What, what-” he stumbled as he came up close. That, that wasn't … _human_. 

Tony slumped and offered the mangled hand to him. “I told you I could do a realistic flesh replacement.”

Bucky nodded dumbly. Tony had offered to overhaul the arm's appearance; Bucky had turned him down, said he just needed maintenance, nothing fancy. Nothing like _this_.

Tony's right hand was made of vibranium. Bucky knew that shine, first from Steve's shield, then from visiting T'Challa's homeland and his sister's lab, and now by looking down at his gifted arm. Somehow, those three hadn't just made him an updated arm, they'd been able to craft a hand for Tony, and none of the Avengers knew.

Or at least, he didn't _think_ the other Avengers knew. “The others...”

“No one knows. Besides the Wakandans, obviously.” 

“Obviously,” he echoed faintly. “How long?”

“Long enough,” Tony brushed aside. “Listen. Um. I know this isn't very fair, because you're still processing this and all, but I could kind of use your help here.”

“ _Yes_ ,” he insisted. “Anything.”

“This thing's sparking like a motherfucker, but my left hand's not strong enough to pry open the safety switch. If you could...”

“Of course, where, um, is it?”

“Base of the thumb. Just, just shove everything else out of the way, it's gonna take all night putting this thing back to rights.”

Bucky slipped his left hand inside Tony's right and pried apart the smashed circuity to press a bright red button.

Tony sighed in relief. “Thanks. Now, on the other side, there's a release to remove the whole thing.”

Bucky found it easily. And then he was just. Holding the mangled corpse of Tony's hand. How had he never noticed before?

Despite his desire to fall in a pit of self recrimination, the answer was obvious. Tony was left-handed, and preferred it in bed. He and Tony preferred to face each other when they made love, so his vibranium hand was on Bucky's vibranium arm. His arm wasn't heat sensitive, not sensitive to much of anything, certainly not enough to notice the lack of human warmth or the sensation of normal human skin. He always walked on Tony's left, always took that hand, always kissed that hand.

They were aligned. Facing each other, reflections of haunted cyborgs, both man and machine.

“Does it hurt?”

“It used to. But the arc reactor always hurt worse, so it didn't mean much. Are you – are you okay? Do you need to sit down?”

Bucky fell heavily onto a work bench, with only slight guiding from Tony. “I'm so sorry.”

“Thank you,” Tony said simply. “I _am_ okay, though. The vibranium is amazing.”

“That's not why I'm sorry.”

“I know.” 

Tony hugged him, and they left it at that, for now. Bucky bent Tony's hand into almost normal shape using Tony's directions, then left it with the bots – Tony's little tech family could fix the actual problems, they didn't Bucky around for that. 

“Are. Um.” Tony stopped at the threshold of the workshop as they were leaving. “Are we okay?”

Bucky felt a little lost. “Yeah? Why wouldn't we be?” 

“Well. Because, you know.” He gestured to the workshop with his missing hand. “I didn't tell you about this.”

“It's none of my business. What you decide to share with other people, that's your business. There are things about me you don't know, that I don't like other people to know. That doesn't mean I don't love you.”

Tony reached out to him, tucked into his shoulder. “I love you too.”


End file.
